by Frank Schnittger
Sun Oct 29th, 2023 at 11:39:15 AM EST
Once again, the pundits are ascribing huge significance to the Springboks world cup victory when it could just as easily be described as a random event occasioned by small margins. The Boks won three matches by one point (and lost to Ireland by five) and had the rub of the green last night.
The All Blacks were denied a brilliant try by an almost imperceptible knock on (itself occasioned by an illegal playing of their man in the air) and also had a penalty wrongly awarded against Savea when it should have been the other way around. They had a man sent off early on for shoulder on head, but the ref missed a clear elbow to the head of Cane by Etzebeth.
by Frank Schnittger
Sat Oct 21st, 2023 at 01:02:46 PM EST
A million words have been written about this match and my policy as a blogger is never to repeat any of them: Unless you have something original to say, the best policy is to say nothing. And the truth is: there is not much left to say. As expected, the match was a tight 50:50 contest which could have gone either way, but Ireland simply left themselves with too much to do when they went 13-0 down early on.
by Frank Schnittger
Sun Oct 8th, 2023 at 05:00:36 PM EST
The first hour of this match was the best I have ever seen Ireland play. Not only were they absolutely clinical in taking nearly all their chances, but they defended as if their lives depended on it. 36-0 and 6 tries to nil after an hour against a very good side like Scotland is the stuff that dreams are made of.
by Frank Schnittger
Sun Sep 24th, 2023 at 08:55:43 AM EST
Rugby World Cup: Ireland 13 South Africa 8
There is an old rugby aphorism that it is the forwards who decide who wins a match, and the backs decide by how much. The Irish backs decided they weren't having any of that, dealing with the Springboks kicking game and providing an almost impregnatable wall in defence. Faf De Klerk and Mannie Libbok are a wonderful pair of half backs, but their place kicking can be iffy, and on the night, it was their lack of place kicking accuracy that decided the scoreboard in Ireland's favour.
by Frank Schnittger
Mon Sep 11th, 2023 at 10:12:58 AM EST
The world Cup has kicked off with some fantastic matches, great play, and some intriguing results.
France 27 New Zealand 13
Italy 52 Namibia 8
Ireland 82 Romania 8
Australia 35 Georgia 15
England 27 Argentina 10
Japan 42 Chile 12
South Africa 18 Scotland 3
Wales 32 Fiji 26
by Frank Schnittger
Sat Sep 2nd, 2023 at 08:36:48 AM EST
My first book (and venture into fictional writing) is about to be self-published with Amazon/Kindle. It may not be available to order for a couple of days but will become available in Kindle, paperback and hardback formats. Your support and reference to any of your contacts or friends who may be interested would be much appreciated.
The book is a future history written from the perspective of 2040, 15 years after Irish re-unification. It is written in the form of a memoir by a young English journalist who ends up falling in love with an Irishwoman, Ireland, its people, and its politics. It gives a personal account of how a Border Poll was called, why it was carried, and what happened afterwards. It traces the development of a unified Irish state over a 15 year transition period and looks at how it all turned out, from a variety of points of view in Ireland and Britain.
The Good Friday Agreement is silent on what happens after a Border Poll is carried out and returns a majority for re-unification. My book is an attempt to flesh out, in a hopefully informative, entertaining, and amusing way, what could and should happen!
Table of contents below...
by Frank Schnittger
Sun Aug 20th, 2023 at 12:54:42 PM EST
Keir Starmer was in a tricky position. With 290 seats he was 36 short of an overall majority and only two ahead of the Lib Dems and the Tories combined. Only the SNP could give him an overall majority, and they refused all entreaties to support his government unless he would agree to a second independence referendum to be carried out within 12 months. He might even have been agreeable to that if they not also insisted on a Treaty between Britain and a newly independent Scotland which would transfer all British assets in Scotland to the new Scottish state, together with only a small portion of the UK national debt proportionate with its population.
Published on Slugger O'Toole
by Frank Schnittger
Sun Aug 20th, 2023 at 12:49:00 PM EST
Andy Farrell is due to announce his final 33 man world cup squad next Monday after Ireland's final warm up match against Samoa on Saturday. No doubt some fringe players will get another chance to impress on Saturday, but the vast bulk of the squad will have been pencilled in on his World Rugby squad notification form.
Ireland play at least one less warm up match than most other nations in the belief that the risk of injury to key players is too high. Ireland's previous World Cup debacles have been caused, in large measure, by injuries to key players. Instead, the focus has been on very intensive training sessions and a science led fitness programme.
by Frank Schnittger
Tue Aug 15th, 2023 at 04:59:12 PM EST
I was out and about at various voting centres in Belfast on election day in October 2024 being careful to divide my time between protestant, Catholic, middle class and working class areas. Most people were happy enough to chat though some gave me the middle finger. Reactions were sharply divided with many unionists saying they were protesting against "Sunak selling out our country when it isn't even his to sell!"
This chapter follows on from:
Chapter 1: My private meeting with Rishi Sunak
Chapter 2: The Bombshell
Chapter 3: Belfast
Chapter 4 is posted on Slugger O'Toole here
by Frank Schnittger
Mon Aug 7th, 2023 at 02:23:54 PM EST
Sovereignty 2045 Chapter 3:
Belfast
Much has been written about the amazing result of the 2024 UK General Election. As I was now the Climate Change Correspondent of the Tribune, I didn't actually cover the lead up to the campaigns as a professional reporter. However, as an amateur enthusiast I kind of felt I knew how it would all play out, even though I had little hard evidence to back up my hunches.
This chapter follows on from:
Chapter 1: My private meeting with Rishi Sunak
Chapter 2: The Bombshell
by Frank Schnittger
Wed Aug 2nd, 2023 at 08:09:47 AM EST
Chapter 2: The Bombshell
Continued from Sovereignty 2024: My meeting with Rishi Sunak
My second private briefing in Chequers in August 2024 wasn't all that different from the first. The rumour was that the PM was considering calling the general election for October. He didn't want to have to reconvene parliament to give Labour a platform to lambaste the Government. Better to get it over with quickly. The public wouldn't start paying attention until September anyway, and memories of a paltry budget were fading.
Also posted on Slugger O'Toole.
by Frank Schnittger
Mon Jul 31st, 2023 at 11:06:55 AM EST
My private meeting with Rishi Sunak
My story begins one fine summers day back in 2024 in Chequers, the country home of the British Prime Minister. The PM had just been given a rather ominous briefing on the prospects for the British economy. A general election was in the offing and there was almost no good news for the PM to build a campaign around. I was there as a relatively new reporter for the Tribune, a reputable British broadsheet not known to be overly well disposed to the Conservative government.
Our senior political correspondents had all tied their colours to mast, declaring the government to be a lost cause and facing inevitable defeat. The government press office had asked for a "more objective" reporter to be sent to a private and confidential press briefing with the PM. Even though I was still very junior, I was the only one on the political staff who wasn't either on holiday or known to be hostile to the government. My editor told me it was my big break and not to f*ck it up.
by Frank Schnittger
Thu Jul 27th, 2023 at 09:28:07 AM EST
In Pleas for greater speed and transparency must be heeded if the Windsor Framework is to succeed, Brian Walker presents continuing discussions on the operation of the Windsor Framework as being simply a case of finding practical solutions to practical problems. But there are at least five distinct games being played here:
Also posted on Slugger O'Toole, where the usual lively discussion is in progress
by Frank Schnittger
Wed Jul 26th, 2023 at 09:24:33 PM EST
RIP Sinéad O'Connor 1966-2023
Along with U2, Van Morrison, The Cranberries, The Boomtown Rats (Bob Geldof), Riverdance and perhaps Rory Gallagher and The Pogues, Sinéad O'Connor is one of the few Irish musical acts who can be said to have made it into the global musical consciousness.
by Frank Schnittger
Wed Jul 5th, 2023 at 07:44:36 PM EST
In Dáil Elections 2024 - Predicting the Northern Six Counties... David Nesbitt paints a benign picture of elections taking place for Dail Eireann in the northern 6 counties after a shock border poll for a united Ireland in 2024. He assumes there will be a smooth transfer of sovereignty with no mention of violence or disruption and no transitionary period for Stormont.
Cross-posted from Slugger O'Toole, where it has attracted 9,000 readers and 850 comments!
by Frank Schnittger
Fri Jun 23rd, 2023 at 07:32:39 PM EST
This is the third time I have felt compelled to respond to a speech or Opinion Piece by my friend Andy Pollak whom I hold in the highest regard despite disagreeing with him so fundamentally on several issues.
Crossposted from Slugger O'Toole.
by Frank Schnittger
Thu Jun 15th, 2023 at 09:33:22 PM EST
Imagine you have just landed a job as adviser to DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson. Your job is to make him and the DUP look good and promote the Union with Britain.
Would you: A) Crash the democratic institutions of Northern Ireland within the UK, inhibit investment in Northern Ireland by creating maximum political and policy instability, enrage the UK government to the point that it proposes a punishment budget for Northern Ireland, and alienate everyone broadly disposed to support the Union but who doesn't vote DUP?
Or B) Make sure Northern Ireland political institutions work as well as possible, promote investment in the economy, work hand in glove with your allies in Westminster to improve public services in Northern Ireland, and work hard to build a broad political coalition of all those prepared to make Northern Ireland work better within the Union?
Cross-posted from Slugger O'Toole
by Frank Schnittger
Sat Jun 10th, 2023 at 02:44:21 PM EST
The last thing Sinn Féin want is to let the DUP off the hook they have impaled themselves on...
Newton Emerson, a unionist commentator, has an article up on the Irish Times about Sinn Féin's confused approach to the current Northern Ireland political impasse. He accuses Michelle O'Neill of trying to contort reality into an archaic Republican world view during her current trip to Washington.
Apparently, according to Emerson's view of Sinn Féin, the problem is the British, and specifically the Tory, failure to put sufficient pressure on the DUP to force their return to operating the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement.
Cross-posted from Slugger O'Toole, the leading Northern Ireland political website.
by Frank Schnittger
Wed May 31st, 2023 at 10:46:26 AM EST
Andy Farrell has announced his 42 man training squad for the world cup, and true to form, has not been afraid to make some hard choices. The dominant theme is one of loyalty to the players who have enabled Ireland win a Grand Slam and maintain their place at the top of the world rankings.
by Frank Schnittger
Sat May 27th, 2023 at 08:48:56 PM EST
A response to Andy Pollak's complaint about the southern Irish media
My friend Andy Pollak has written long and eloquently about the ignorance of the southern electorate of all things north of the border, and delights in quoting academics who share this view. Academic disdain for the ignorance of the masses is, of course, nothing new, but in fairness, Andy’s latest treatise on Slugger O'Toole on the ignorance of the southern media could only have been written by an insider who knows the industry well.
As someone who has never been published in the southern media other than in a couple of hundred Letters to the Editor or a feature, in the Village Magazine, critical of the Irish Times website reboot some years ago, I have no particular interest in defending it.
And yet I find myself in utter disagreement with Andy.
Ireland is a small country, with a limited media market and very few prominent titles, each with their own agenda. The state broadcaster, like any state broadcaster, tends not to stray too far from government policy.
